CII-AP hails interim budget

The Andhra Pradesh chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has welcomed the interim budget.

Describing it as a 'watershed for the Indian industry', K Satish Reddy, the chairman of CII-AP chapter, said: "The interim budget not only brought down the fiscal deficit from the budget estimate of 5.6 per cent of GDP to 4.8 per cent, but also furthered the cause of reforms through specific measures."

The fact that the government used even this limited instrument of the interim budget to announce policy and procedural reforms spoke of its commitment to furthering India's competitiveness and economic growth, Satish Reddy said.

Some of the measures including creating packages to revitalise the tea and the sugar industries, halving stamp duty on all central government stamp papers and raising the threshold for payment of stamp duty from Rs 500 to 50,000, ensuring mechanisms to increase flow of affordable credit for SMEs, and proposing to introduce E-filing of excise returns from June 30, 2004, were very much part of the CII's reforms agenda, he added.